The wedding was livestreamed by the sister, revealing his identity as a Taoist priest.

Zhou Dechang practically broke down the door.

The burly security guard was shoved to the side and stood there stunned for a full three seconds.

Zhou Mingyuan followed behind, covering his forehead, feeling extremely embarrassed.

"Who is it? This old man?"

Someone in the crowd muttered to themselves.

As soon as he finished speaking, someone next to him suddenly covered his mouth.

"Shut up!"

The voice was so urgent that everyone around turned to look.

The person covering their mouth is a standing director of a collectors' association, surnamed Wu.

He usually speaks louder than the train station announcements.

"Zhou, De, Chang, do you understand?"

The person whose mouth was covered shook their head.

Director Wu's eyes widened in surprise.

"The person in charge of the restoration of the ancient wood in the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City is listed as a national intangible cultural heritage. He enjoys the same treatment as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In the field of ancient wood appraisal in the country, this old man is number one, there is no second."

The man slowly nodded, his expression changing from blank to shocked.

On the other side, the eldest grandson of the He family turned his head, and his assistant leaned over and whispered the same words.

The eldest grandson of the He family quietly moved the gift box in his hand back a little.

Young Master Lu didn't speak, and slowed down the speed at which he spun the bracelet.

The Zhou family member had just taken out her phone to post on WeChat Moments, and had even finished editing the caption.

"The way people from the mountains present betrothal gifts is really something else, haha."

He was frozen in place by a single glance from Young Master Lu.

He put his phone back in his pocket.

In the live stream chat, the chat is completely lost.

Who was that old man who came in? Why was he so arrogant?

[From a museum? What are they doing at this fashion exhibition?]

Can someone explain this to me? I'm just a regular viewer and I don't understand it.

[Wait, someone upstairs mentioned the Forbidden City? And an academician? What's he doing here??]

[Was it all for this box and that piece of paper?]

Chen Xiaoyu didn't know who he was either.

Quietly move the camera over there.

Zhou Dechang strode through the crowd, his eyes never leaving the box since he entered.

He stopped in front of Shen Nianqing, took a couple of breaths, his voice hoarse like sandpaper.

"girl."

His voice carried a solemnity characteristic of the elderly.

"I am Zhou Dechang. May I take a look at this box?"

His hands were already trembling as he said this.

Shen Nianqing did not hesitate and handed it over with both hands.

The air in the room seemed to freeze for a moment when Zhou Dechang caught it.

His fingers touched the side of the hand, very lightly, as if he were touching something alive.

My palms didn't even fully grasp it; I just supported it, afraid of using too much force.

Zhou Mingyuan quietly held up his phone behind him to provide extra light.

Silence spread through the exhibition hall.

Those who were just laughing at "the mountain people giving a piece of paper" have, I don't know when, shut their mouths.

Zhou Dechang turned the box at an angle under the light.

The golden threads flowed against the dark wood background, without repetition, each line like water frozen at a certain moment.

"The whole material."

He murmured.

He examined each of the four sides of the box, and finally turned it over, looking at the bottom for a full thirty seconds.

Zhou Mingyuan was timing his grandfather with a stopwatch. When the countdown reached twenty-eight seconds, his grandfather stood up.

"Everyone here."

Zhou Dechang cleared his throat, his voice full of energy.

"May I ask, does anyone know anything about golden nanmu (Phoebe zhennan) submerged wood?"

The eldest grandson of the He family was about to speak.

His assistant secretly pinched him from behind.

The smart choice is to keep quiet.

"Golden Phoebe is already rare, while submerged wood is formed when Phoebe wood has been buried underground for over a thousand years and carbonized."

Zhou Dechang's voice slowed down, as if he were giving a lecture to undergraduate students.

"What you see most often on the market are materials that are a hundred or five hundred years old. If you take materials that are over eight hundred years old to auction, it will make headlines."

He paused.

The entire audience held their breath.

The live stream chat displayed a neat, orderly line of comments.

Tell me!!! And then what?!

"This box..."

Zhou Dechang looked up, his voice deepening slightly.

"The texture density, carbonization level, and gold thread direction are no less than three thousand years old."

"and……"

He lifted the box slightly so that more people could see all four sides.

"It's made from a single piece of wood, without any splicing or repairs."

Dead silence.

Then Marco Bellini was the first to speak, roughly translating to "Oh God!"

Zhou Dechang looked at those young men.

"There are only three pieces of whole pieces of ebony wood that are over 3,000 years old in the country. Two of them are in the Palace Museum and are not open to the public. The third piece, according to records, has entered someone's private collection and has never been publicly displayed."

He paused.

"Until today!"

The eldest grandson of the He family had his gleaming gold gift box quietly moved behind him by his assistant.

Zhou Dechang held the box to his chest, turned to Shen Nianqing, and spoke with the most serious tone he had ever used.

Eight years ago, at a Sotheby's auction, a piece of 3,000-year-old dark nanmu wood, less than the size of a palm, sold for 16 million.

He lowered his head and cupped the box in his hand.

"This one in front of me is made from a single piece of material, complete and flawless."

"Twenty million, at the very least."

"Upwards, there is no top."

There was a silence in the exhibition hall for about two seconds.

then!

Blasted!

The number of viewers in the live stream surged to over five million, and the barrage of comments was as fast as a waterfall.

Chen Xiaoyu stared at the screen, unable to read the words clearly, only able to make out exclamation marks.

[Twenty million! Packaging!]

The dowry box was more expensive than all of my family's assets combined!

I no longer care about the dowry; I'm worried about the pressure of that piece of paper.

[Who exactly is your brother, streamer? Don't you know?]

Chen Xiaoyu took a deep breath.

She steadied her hand and spoke to the camera.

"Guys, my brother is just a laborer, but what kind of work he does..."

She glanced at the box.

"I'm figuring it out myself."

The screen instantly filled with a row of "hahaha" comments.

Pei Jingchuan stood there for a while without saying a word.

His assistant leaned closer and whispered a few words.

Then he turned around, straightened his cuffs, and walked deeper into the exhibition hall along the side aisle.

Chen Xiaoyu captured this scene on camera.

Over there, Zhou Dechang gently placed the box back into Shen Nianqing's hands, his movements as slow as if he were returning an artifact.

Then he looked at the top of the box, but didn't move.

Zhou Mingyuan leaned close to his ear.

"Grandpa, what do you think of that piece of paper...?"

Zhou Dechang remained silent.

There was something in his eyes, not certainty, but expectation.

It was as if he had already guessed it, but dared not speak.

Many people at the scene had already come to their senses and began to discuss it in hushed tones.

"That piece of paper...it can't be more expensive than the box, can it?"

"A mountain villager's betrothal gift: a box containing twenty million, and inside is just a piece of paper. What kind of joke is this?"

"...You didn't expect that box either, did you?"

Chen Xiaoyu stared at Shen Nianqing's profile.

Those eyes, from the moment they received the box, carried a very certain gentleness.

It was as if she already knew what was inside, as if she never doubted what that person would give her.

Chen Xiaoyu suddenly felt a soreness in her nose.

She glanced down at the live stream.

The number of online users has exceeded six million and is still rising.

One comment in the live chat was pushed to the top.

So what exactly was that piece of paper?